Full-day, Solar-powered, Bidirectional Thermoregulatory Clothing that can respond to Changing Temperatures

Full-day, solar-powered, bidirectional thermoregulatory clothing that can respond to changing temperatures
Credit: Nankai University

A team of engineers, materials scientists and chemists at Nankai University, in China, has developed a microfiber-based meta-fabric that provides full-day thermoregulation of body temperature during periods of changing external temperatures.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how they developed their fabrics, how they work and how well they performed when tested. Xingyi Huang and Pengli, both with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in China, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the team.

As the researchers note, clothing keeps people warm when it is cold, and in some cases, can help people stay cool in hot temperatures...

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Cholesterol-lowering Therapy may Hinder Aggressive Type of Colorectal Tumor

immunofluorescence image of cells labeled in green, magenta and turquoise
Multiplex immunofluorescence image of cholesterol-rich human serrated colorectal cancer. Highly aggressive tumoral cells (green and magenta) are negative for both aPKCs (turquoise). The nuclear accumulation of SREBP2 (the major enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis) is labeled in green, and nuclei in grey. Credit: Anxo Martinez-Ordoñez

Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and the aggressive tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on the ramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding points to the possibility of using cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent or treat such tumors.

In the study, published Oct...

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This Adaptive Roof Tile can cut both Heating and Cooling costs

concept photo of a green building amid regular buildings

In a new study, researchers present an adaptive tile, which when deployed in arrays on roofs, can lower heating bills in winter and cooling bills in summer, without the need for electronics.

About half of an average American building’s energy consumption is spent on heating and cooling. That’s a lot of money spent, fossil fuel burned and strain on an aging energy infrastructure during times of severe temperatures.

It’s also a problem UC Santa Barbara researchers Charlie Xiao, Elliot Hawkes and Bolin Liao are hoping to make a dent in. In a paper in the journal Device, the trio present an adaptive tile, which when deployed in arrays on roofs, can lower heating bills in winter and cooling bills in summer, without the need for electronics.

“It switches between a heating state and...

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Unexpected Chemistry reveals Cosmic Star Factories´ Secrets

Galaxy illustration with molecules
Light from many different molecules reveals the secrets of distant star factories. This illustration shows the many molecules found in the quasar APM 08279+5255, together with a Hubble telescope image of a similar galaxy in the nearby universe, IC 5063, which also has an active supermassive black hole at its centre. Background image credits: NASA, ESA & W. P. Maksym (CfA); Jmol (molecules); R. Cumming (montage)Photographer: NASA, ESA & W. P. Maksym (CfA); Jmol (molecules); R. Cumming (montage)

Two galaxies in the early universe, which contain extremely productive star factories, have been studied by a team of scientists led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden...

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